Ship-propelling mechanism



March 12; 1929. o. H. WAGNER SH'IP PROPELL-ING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 24, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 1211929. 0. H. WAGNER v 1905.430

SHIP 'PROPELLING MECHANISM FiledOct. 24, 1927 2 SheetsShee1. 2

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0.5 Wagner INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

OTTO H. WAGNER, OF OKANOGAN, WASHINGTON.

SEIP-PROPELLING MECHANISM.

Application filed October 24, 1927. Serial No. 228,466.

The present invention relates to ship propelling mechanism and has for its object to provide means whereby the bobbing of a ship up and down caused by wave motion may be 5 turned to account to assist in propelling the ship, or for other useful purposes.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following specification and will be set forth in the appended claim, and I do not wish to be limited in the scope of my invention, except as 1 shall be limited by said claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 represents the propeller end of a ship'with one form of my invention attached thereto.

Figures 2 and 3 are pawls and ratche'ts utilized. in converting a reversing rotary movement into a continuous rotary movement.

Figure 4 is another form of a device involving the principle of my invention and in which a screw propeller is utilized in place of the propeller as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 shows a slightly different takeoff of the power from the type of device shown in Figure 1. I

Referring to the drawings'in detail, 10 designates the rear end of a ship, 11 is the rudder, 12 is the propeller, and it is proposed to locate the device 12 constituting the subject of my invention between the rudder 11 and the propeller 12, although it may be )ositioned in any other convenient location, as on the front of the ship, which in some cases may be more advantageous. The device 12 comprises a vertical shaft 13 having a plurality of propeller blades 14 arranged in whirls, each whirl lying in spaced relation to the adjacent whirls. The shaft 13 is supported in bearings 15, 16 and 17, the bearing 16 being secured to an arm 18 projecting from the ship and the bearing 17 being located on the rudder supporting arm 19 which is disposed below the arm 18 and a vertical brace having right angle bent ends secured to said arms is provided for the latter.

Adjacent the lower end of the shaft are provided beveled gears 20 and 21, bothof which mesh with a beveled gear 22 secured to the end ,of the propeller shaft 23. The gears 20 and 21 are loosely mounted on the shaft and are held by collars 24 adjacent ratchet wheels 25 and 26 secured to the shaft 13, said ratchet wheels being arranged with their teeth extending in reverse direction.

Pivotally'secured to the gears 20 and 21 are pawls 27 and 28, spring-pressed into engagement with the toothed peripheries of the ratchet wheels.

From the above description it will appear that when the rear end of the ship moves upwardly due to its riding upon a wave, the propeller blades 14 will cause the shaft 13 to revolve in one direction, while a downward movement will cause the shaft to revolve in the opposite direction, the gears 20 and 21 being rotatably connected with the shaft with only one of the above movements. Let us suppose the shaft 13 is revolving in the direction of the arrow at 29, the ratchet 27 will be effective to cause the gear 20 to rotate with the shaft 23 in the direction of the arrow 30. Upon the reverse movement of the shaft 13 the pawl 28 will engagethe teeth of the ratchet 26, causing the gear 21 to revolve with the shaft in a direction reverse from that shown by the arrow 29, but it is the shaft 23 will be caused thereby to rotate in the direction of the arrow 30, that is, in the same direction in which it rotated when the shaft 13 moved in the opposite direction.

The device as shown in Figure 4 differs from that shown in Figure 1 merely by the substitution of a screw propeller 31 for the series of propellers designated at 14 in F igure 1, the propeller in Figure 4 comprising two spirals32 and 33.

Figure 5 merely illustrates a power takeoff at the upper end of the shaft 13 for a device similar to that shown in Figure 1.

In operation, it will appear from the above description that the device will ope-rate upon the bobbing up and down'of the ship due to wave motion and the shaft 13 will be revolved alternately in opposite directions, but by the arrangement of the correcting gears at 20 and 21 this reciprocating movement is turned into a continuous drive in one direction.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: r

A ship propelling means comprising a vertically disposed shaft, a pair of spaced parallel superposed arms secured to a ship to be propelled by said means and extending outwardly therefrom, a bearing for each arm, a bearing carried by the ship proper and being aligned with the bearings of the arms, said vertically disposed shaft being mounted for rotation in said bearings, propelling means secured to said shaft between the ship carried bearing and the bearing of the upper obvious that I arm, a pair of beveled gears loosely mounted on the shaft between the arm hearings, ratchet means for said beveled gears and including means fixed to the shaft and gears respectively for rotating the gears in the same direction from said shaft, a horizontally disposed shaft ournaled between the superposed arms, a brace between the arms and being formed With a bearing for the horizontally 10 disposed shaft, said brace having its ends bent at right angles to its remaining portion, said ends being secured to: the arms, a propeller secured to the horizontally disposed shaft between the ship proper and the brace respectively and a beveled gear secured to the horizontally disposed shaft and meshing with the pair of beveled gears.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

OTTO H. WAGNER. 

